Behind every face in "Who I Was Supposed to Be" is a singular quirk to explore, a peculiarity to celebrate. In Susan Perabo's world, nothing can be taken for granted: here, a retired grocer takes up jewel theft in his twilight years; a data processor squanders her inheritance on one of Princess Diana's gowns; a mugging victim feigns amnesia to win back his wife. In the tradition of Lorrie Moore, Susan Perabo's slightly off-center lens looks hard at the banal and the bizarre, and at the human condition, where she finds extraordinary magic within the smallest of gestures. Sharply written and overlaid with a mischievous wit, "Who I Was Supposed to Be" is an unforgettable homage to laughter, love, and wonder.

Cassandra West

Chicago Tribune

Cleverly mixes the ordinary and odd...a stunning collection of short gems, revealing a world both foreign and familiar.

"In this deft collection, Perabo explores the weight of disappointment in our lives and how we try to avoid it by assuming new faces."

— The New Yorker

Susan Perabo teaches creative writing at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in the anthologies Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South.